


Mistakes Were Made

by Inbredipus



Category: Original Work
Genre: College, Demons, I don't know what I'm doing, Multi, Relationships may be added, Tags and Ratings may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 08:37:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13314507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inbredipus/pseuds/Inbredipus
Summary: It had started out as a whim, a passing flight of fancy. Tobias was annoyed at having to go through hundreds of potential roommate applications, Celia was out for the day, and that big ol’ book of pagan bullshit that Celia kept reading was just sitting out on the coffee table, waiting to be used.So, of course, Tobias decided to summon a roommate.





	1. In which Tobias has bad ideas

It had started out as a whim, a passing flight of fancy. Tobias was annoyed at having to go through hundreds of potential roommate applications, Celia was out for the day, and that big ol’ book of pagan bullshit that Celia kept reading was just sitting out on the coffee table, waiting to be used.

So, of course, Tobias decided to summon a roommate.

The ritual had been ridiculous enough, but once he started it, Tobias' pride refused to allow him to leave something half-done. He lit the candles, mumbled some shit in latin, and then sat in front of the hastily drawn chalk circle and contemplated what the fuck he was doing with his life.

Tobias stared at the couch for a while, fighting the urge to just throw himself off a cliff rather than explain to Celia why he had tried to summon some mystical being in their apartment. She took that shit seriously.

Well, he should at least try to get the chalk off the carpet. He began to stand up, putting out a hand to steady himself, when a sharp pain ran through the palm of his hand. He instinctively cradled it close to his body, before deciding to actually inspect the injury.

There was a puncture wound in the palm of his hand, oozing blood, and in the spot where his hand had been, there was a nail. Tobias instantly regretted looking. He stood up, this time more careful of where he put his hands, and walked over to the kitchen, trying - and failing - to not leave a trail of blood droplets in his wake. In the back of his mind, he thanked whatever god existed that he’d just gotten his tetanus shot.

As he turned on the kitchen faucet, there was a strange noise behind him, almost like a zipper opening and closing, only more metallic and echo-y. The noise was then followed by a low grunt, and the sound of high heels on carpet, then tile.

Tobias froze up. Celia wasn’t supposed to be home until much later, and their ex-roommate would have killed himself rather than wear high heels, so whoever those footsteps belonged to, it likely wasn’t anyone Tobias knew. He felt the tension tighten his muscles as he stood with his back to the intruder, cold water stinging the open wound on his hand.

The footsteps stopped right behind him. Tobias felt his heart rise in his throat like it was preparing for evasive action.

A head leaned over his shoulder, and all Tobias could really see without turning his head was long, silver-blond hair. He felt the intruder press against his back, and realized with a sinking heart that they were probably much bigger than Tobias.

“Most humans prefer to use a blade, you know. It does not require that much blood.” The voice behind him was a low rumble, mixed with a hint of laughter. “Honestly, you would not do me any good to die before completing the contract.”

“Contract?” Tobias asked, curiousity getting the better of his caution.

“Well,” the voice said, “I highly doubt you called upon a demon simply to talk.”

Tobias snorted in spite of himself. He was obviously dealing with someone absolutely batshit, and the likeliness that he was about to be murdered struck him as oddly hilarious.

As if picking up on Tobias' disbelief, the intruder reached out and grabbed Tobias' wrist with a single, pale hand. Another hand snaked around and put pressure directly on the wound. The pain of it caused Tobias' knees to crumble, and he ended up leaning against the intruder despite himself. He couldn’t bring himself to make a noise beyond a hiss of pain.

Just as quickly as the pressure had begun, it stopped, and with it, the pain. Not just the pain that came from someone directly putting pressure on a pretty serious injury, but the pain of the injury itself. The hands guided Tobias' wrist back under the water, cleaning off the remaining blood.

The puncture was completely gone, as if it had never existed.

Well.

That changed things.

Immediately, Tobias had two thoughts:

One, Celia was going to absolutely fucking murder him for not only attempting to, but actually succeeding to, summon a demon in their apartment, and two, Tobias was going to have to rethink all those times he passed off mystical beings as bullshit stories.


	2. In which we meet the demon

“Tobi, what the fuck did I tell you?”

“‘Magic is not a toy. Summoning demons is a bad idea. Fritos are not a full meal. Please stop leaving the shower running before you get in.’”

Celia covered her face with her hands and let out a weary sigh.

Tobias kind of understood her anger, considering she had come home to a chalk circle on the carpet, a trail of blood, and, perhaps most importantly, a demon.

Said demon was standing awkwardly behind the couch, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He rubbed his arm absentmindedly as he looked from Celia to Tobias, and then back again.

Now that Tobias got a good look at him, he was pretty sure that if the demon had just shown him what he looked like, Tobias would have immediately believed that he was, in fact, a demon. He was abnormally tall, even by Tobias' standards, (which were pretty high considering that most of his friends passed the six-foot mark) and gracefully thin. His hair was long, even longer than Tobias had expected it to be from the small glance of it he had caught out of the corner of his eye. It probably reached past his hips. His arms, and what Tobias could see of his torso, were covered with what looked to be tattoos, though Tobias couldn’t quite make out what the markings were from this distance. He hadn’t really paid attention when he’d been close enough to check, considering that he had just accidentally punched a hole in his hand. Perhaps the most telling thing of all was the demon’s eyes; they peered out from beneath long, pale blonde bangs, glowing yellow like a streetlamp, pupils narrowed to thin, black slits. They were the eyes of a snake, or a cat, or some other predator that Tobias couldn’t think of at the moment.

Yup, definitely a demon.

“Tobi, listen to what I’m saying!” Celia snapped, and Tobias turned his attention off the demon and onto his extremely pissed-off roommate.

“Sorry, what?”

Celia groaned. “We can’t just keep him here.”

“Well, I don’t know how to send him back,” Tobias responded. He felt suddenly defensive of what was obviously an extremely stupid thing to do.

“You got him here, it’s your responsibility.”

“If I may offer my assistance?” The demon leaned forward with a small, sharp-toothed smile forming on his sharp features. He seemed unfazed by the way Celia was glaring at him, even though Tobias had known lesser men to spontaneously combust beneath her stare. “I cannot go back until I complete a contract with whoever summoned me.”

Tobias and Celia exchanged glances. Completing a contract with a demon was definitely a bad idea on all fronts.

“I suppose he can stay here, then,” Celia said, sighing. As much as Tobias occasionally pissed her off, he knew that they were still close enough friends that Celia wasn’t going to risk his eternal soul or whatever bullshit that came with creating a contract with a demon. Besides, they technically needed three tenants to stay in the apartment, so it all worked out. She nodded to Tobias with a look that told him that they weren’t done discussing this, and then made her way to the kitchen, immediately pouring herself a glass of whiskey.

The demon shrugged, apparently not extremely annoyed with this turn of events, before making his way onto the couch and settling down on it. Tobias had expected more of a fuss.

“Well, anyway, I’m Tobias.” The demon’s expression hardened for a quick moment, before softening back into a leering grin. Tobias decided to ignore it. “That lovely ray of sunshine is Celia.” Celia glared at him. "So, uh, you got a name?”

From the look on the demon’s face, he hadn’t been expecting the question. Tobias didn’t know what he thought was going to happen. If he was going to live here, they were going to need to call him something. Maybe he just didn’t think he’d be staying all that long?

The demon cleared his throat and sat up straight.

“I am Asmodeus-” the demon, Asmodeus, began, before abruptly being cut off by the sound of Celia spitting out her whiskey. Tobias stood up out of reflex, ready to help her, but she quickly waved at him to show that she was fine.

As soon as she regained her composure, she put her face directly on the counter.

“Are you alright?” Tobias asked.

“That was quite a shock,” Asmodeus added.

“Jesus fuck, Tobi,” Celia began, before laughing in a way that told Tobias that she was more exhausted than amused. “You summoned a demon prince.”

“A what?” Tobias deadpanned.

Asmodeus leaned forward again, his smile reaching almost creepy levels of wide. “You see, there are nine demon princes that rule Hell. I am one of them.”

Oh.

“Oh.” Tobias couldn’t do much more than echo his internal thoughts at this point. He had really fucked up royally (ha), hadn’t he?

Hopefully this would remind him that he needed to listen to the nagging voice in the back of his head more.

He doubted it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this, thank you! I haven't finished this work yet, but if you want to read more, let me know! (Also, how did you find this?) Comments and criticism are always appreciated!


	3. In which we learn about psychology

Asmodeus was turning out to be both a perfect example of what Tobias had expected a demon to be, as well as simultaneously everything he expected a demon not to be.

“So, explain this to me again,” Asmodeus said, his face a mask of seriousness. “You open up that little thing, and it can tell you anything you want to know?”

Tobias nodded, a bit annoyed at having to explain how a smartphone worked for what must have been the umpteenth time.

“Amazing!” Asmodeus’ eyes sparkled with wonder that was uncomfortably out of place with the rest of his face. The man was a fucking mystery. Half the time, he’d talk with a sneering grin on his face, his eyes predatory in a way that made Tobias either want to slug him or crawl under his bed, and the other half, he was like a small kitten first exploring the world, completely enraptured by the magic of the land around them. Tobias was only just starting to recognize which mood Asmodeus was in; it was in his eyes. The man had very expressive eyes.

Asmodeus leaned slightly too close to Tobias, their shoulders touching as Asmodeus looked attentively at the smartphone in Tobias' hand. It was an older model, but it worked well enough. Tobias was slightly excited to see what Asmodeus would do when he saw what the newer phones looked like; he’d heard that they were pretty neat, even by the standards of someone who had grown up in the 21st century.

“Pray, tell me,” Asmodeus said, turning his face to look directly at Tobias, “How does it work?”

Tobias shrugged. “I’m not an engineering major, or whatever, so I’ve got no fuckin’ clue.”

Asmodeus nodded like those things made perfect sense to him, though Tobias could tell from the way his eyes misted over slightly that he had no idea what Tobias was going on about. Asmodeus had a vague idea of college, though no idea what it was like, and Tobias had a feeling that whatever form higher education had taken back when Asmodeus was last on earth, it had most certainly changed since then.

“A major is, like, the topic I’m trying to learn the most about, I guess?” Tobias rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, trying to find the right words to explain exactly what a major was without having to explain too many other things. It was more difficult than he thought. “I mean, I’m going to college so that I can learn about this topic, and then, once I learn enough, I kinda get acknowledged as a person who knows a lot about the topic.”

“And then?” Asmodeus’ face was far too close. Tobias slid over slightly, just to widen the gap between them. He hadn’t expected demons to have such a poor sense of boundaries.

“And then I get a job that will require me to use all the knowledge of the topic. Hopefully.” It wasn’t always easy to make a living as a professor, and Tobias had heard that it was actually pretty difficult to get hired as one. He didn’t like to think about it, though it was pretty likely that, with his luck, he was going to end up having to give up on his dreams in favor of something less likely to leave him destitute.

Asmodeus made a small noise of assent before leaning back onto the couch. He was still looking at Tobias, almost like he was expecting something.

“What?”

“What is your topic?”

Tobias was quiet for a moment. “Psychology,” he said, shrugging as if he hadn’t had a choice in the matter.

Asmodeus tilted his head in an unspoken question.

“It’s the study of how the human mind works.” 

“Ah.” Asmodeus nodded again, this time actually seeming to understand what Tobias meant. “I’m quite good at that.”

Tobias raised an eyebrow.

“Well, as a demon, I have seen many a man in my time. They come to me with their deepest desires, and I grant them.” Asmodeus’ eyes were starting to gain that predatory gleam, his mouth opening into a sharp grin, like the edge of a knife. He sat up, drawing himself to his full height. “’Twould be hard not to glean some understanding of how humans work from my profession.”

Tobias had a feeling that whatever Asmodeus thought of human psychology, it was something that he was better off not knowing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for continuing to read this! I don't know why you're doing this, but I appreciate it.


	4. In which we drink coffee

“So, how’d your class go?” 

Celia laid her head down on the table of the café, and let out a weary sigh. Sighing was kind of her thing. She did it on almost every occasion, or at least on every occasion that Tobias had been around her. Now that Tobias thought about it, that probably said more about him than it did about her. He took a sip of his drink. “That bad, eh?”

“I just want someone to punch me in the fucking throat,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by the fact that she hadn’t lifted her head from the table.

Tobias grimaced.

“You’d think,” Celia grumbled, finally lifting her head up from the table, “that most assholes would realize that a class called ‘Feminism in Gaming’ was not the place for misogyny.”

“Let me guess: ‘but you would be wrong.’”

Celia snapped her hands into finger guns. “Exactly.”

“Wanna regale me with tales of this asshat, or what?” Tobias leaned forward slightly, smiling eagerly. He got a sort of weird satisfaction from hearing about bigots, especially if Celia was the one telling the story. The woman had a way with describing people she didn’t like that painted a very clear image of how much she detested them.

“Okay, so we’re talking about armor, yeah? You know,” Celia gestured towards her chest for emphasis, “what with the skimpiness and such. Well, this one guy who always sits in the aisle seat so that people have to basically stick their asses in his face to get to other seats and I know he thinks he’s getting away with it but bitch…” Celia shook her head. “Anyway, so this fucker raises his hand and is like ‘but it’s not real life, why should we expect full armor?’”

“No.”

“Yes. This guy honestly pulled the ‘but it’s just a game’ card. As if media doesn’t affect the way people view things!” Celia groaned, glaring at her iced coffee like it was about to spout some misogyny itself. “I mean, I dunno what I expected from a guy whose facial hair looks like someone tried to hot-glue a rotten peach to his face.”

Tobias snorted.

“No, but seriously, I grow better facial hair than him, and I’ve been on estrogen for, what, three years now?” Celia shrugged and took a sip of her drink. “But yeah, he’s an asshole.”

“So, what happened next? Because I would have slapped him.”

“I’m pretty sure you’d get in trouble for that, man.”

“It’s for science.”

Celia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, the girl who sits like two rows in front of me, y’know, the one with the hella nice eyeliner that I am at least fifty-percent sure she had a robot do for her because it’s so flawless?” Tobias nodded. “Well, she rips him a new one, like, I hadn’t really heard her speak before but man, she went to town on that guy. Like, straight up, she was like ‘go fight someone wearing nothing but a chainmail bikini, see how that goes for you’ and I was just like ‘damn, I kinda wanna see this guy get his ass handed to him.’”

“Considering how you described his facial hair, I’m not so sure I want to see the rest of the produce aisle.”

“I could probably overlook it if it meant some good ol’ ass-whooping.”

Tobias shook his head with a smile. “God bless anyone who pisses you off, Celia.”

“Pretty sure god’s abandoned anyone who has the misfortune to cross me.” Celia stirred the straw in her drink around, moving the ice absentmindedly. “Speaking of god abandoning things, how’s our houseguest?”

Now it was Tobias’ turn to groan. He’d forgotten about Asmodeus.

“Please tell me I’m not gonna come home to an orgy or a bunch of dead animals or something.” Celia’s voice raised a little, causing a few nearby people to look over at the duo’s table. “Sorry,” she said, lowering her voice back to normal levels.

Tobias paused for a moment and stared at his drink intently. “You’re not.”

Celia was obviously dubious of his claims. “Dude, what the fuck did he do?"

“It’s more like, he’s just really weird?” Tobias shrugged. “Like, okay, so, you know how you’ve been basically coming home only to sleep?”

“A girl’s gotta pay the bills, Tobs.”

“I know, but because you haven’t been home, you haven’t had to deal with… whatever the fuck he is.”

“A demon,” Celia said, smiling. Tobias narrowed his eyes in response.

“I know that. It’s just, half the time I’m worried he’s gonna straight up murder someone, and the other half of the time I’m worried he’s gonna accidentally kill himself?” Seeing that Celia was just as confused as Tobias felt, he continued. “So, last night, I’m sitting on the couch playing games, and Asmodeus is watching me, right? Well, the doorbell rings, and I hear this yelling, so I’m like ‘the fuck?’ and open the door.”

“You didn’t tell me this.”

“You were asleep, it was midnight, a lot of things got in the way, anyway,” Tobias sighed for a moment before returning to his story. “This guy, who is obviously so drunk that his blood could give me cirrhosis if I drank it, just starts screaming at me for, and I quote, ‘disappointing my parents.’”

“I mean…” Celia trailed off, the corners of her lips quirking up into the faintest hints of a smile.

Tobias flipped her off, returning her grin in spite of himself. “Well, so, I’m just standing there because I am one-hundred-percent not in the mood to deal with this, and also, yeah, the guy maybe hit a bit close to home, so I’m like, frozen, and this guy’s just screaming, and then suddenly Asmodeus has his hands on my shoulders and I look up and I shit you not, he had the biggest fucking grin on his face. Like, I’m talking creepypasta level grins, here. And he just stares the guy right in the eye and goes ‘sir, if you continue to harass him, I will be forced to remove your innards and feed you them, keeping you alive just so that you can retch as you find out what you taste like, before I finally disembowel you and strangle you with your own intestines.’ I mean, I’m paraphrasing here, but that was the general gist of it.”

The look on Celia’s eyes was one of abject horror.

“Yeah, I know. So the guy just freezes for a moment, then bolts, and then Asmodeus goes back and sits down on the couch like nothing happened, and he’s looking at me with these eyes filled with childlike wonder because he apparently wants me to keep playing, and I’m just standing there with the door open because what the actual fuck.”

Celia pushed her drink away, looking slightly pale. Tobias wasn’t sure how he still had an appetite even remembering it. The look on Asmodeus’ face had made it extremely clear that the demon was not joking, and that he would have taken pleasure in the slow torture of this random drunkard.

“The worst part?” Tobias leaned in closer. “He said those things with this huge smile on his face, like he was just talking about the weather or something.”

“Jesus fuck,” Celia breathed out.

“Indeed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't pick up on it, Celia is trans. She's not the only trans character, but I haven't revealed the others yet.


	5. In which Tobias goes to the library

Tobias wasn’t sure if it was a good sign that he and Celia got used to Asmodeus’ presence so quickly. It seemed like the kind of thing that pointed towards someone not being in their right mind.

Still, the past week hadn’t gone as terribly as either of them had expected. Asmodeus was surprisingly polite, even if half the time he looked like he was about to swallow someone whole, and oddly… human. Celia had explained that Asmodeus was exceptionally powerful, an ex-seraph, but that image seemed to clash with what the guy was actually like. It kept throwing Tobias off-balance, kept raising questions that Tobias didn’t know how to ask.

While he didn’t want to admit that he was curious, there was really no other explanation for how he ended up in the Library’s “Religious” section, looking over book after book on demonology. Tobias couldn’t help the annoyance that rose in the back of his throat whenever someone walked by and saw him, this stereotypical punk, reading up on the classification of demons. The imagined assumptions made him belligerent, even before anyone had spoken; he tried to focus on the book before he’d say something he’d regret.

It turned out that Asmodeus was, in fact, a demon prince, according to multiple demonologists (When had that become a job title?), and not just any demon prince, but the demon prince of lust. Tobias had to stiffle a laugh at the idea of Asmodeus seducing someone; for a lust demon, the guy wasn’t much more than overly touchy-feely. Though, if Tobias thought about that hungry look that sometimes passed through Asmodeus’ eyes, it did make sense. Those were definitely bedroom eyes. Or serial killer eyes. He wasn’t too sure.

The descriptions of Asmodeus still caught him off guard. Tobias scanned the picture in the Dictionerre Infernal, trying to match any piece of the inhuman creature to the demon that had been sleeping on his couch. The creature had four heads, none of which were even remotely human, and what looked like three legs as well. There were reptilian wings on the creature’s back, and a long tail, like a snake’s. The only thing in the picture that seemed even vaguely reminiscent of Asmodeus was the hunger in the creature’s eyes. Each pair looked on with a gaze that reminded Tobias of the wildlife shows he watched as a kid; a predator, waiting for just the right moment to strike.

Tobias closed the book with slightly too much force, as though the picture of the demon itself had been leering at him. A few heads looked up in his direction, and Tobias hissed out an apology as he picked up the books. He’d read the rest later, away from so many people; it was too hard to focus when there were others around.

He was on his way out the door when he heard someone call out his name. He recognized the voice immediately: it was the girlfriend of his ex-roommate. He swallowed thickly and walked out the door, hoping to avoid an awkward conversation. It was too soon to deal with people asking questions; they’d only gotten the guy kicked out two weeks prior. The feelings were still raw, as much as it pissed Tobias off to admit it.

Tobias was just past the library’s entrance when he felt a tug on his arm.

“Tobias, what the hell?” It was the girlfriend, Rosa. Tobias groaned internally, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for an excuse to not deal with this. He fiddled with his ear studs, twisting them around in the hole.

“Sorry,” he began, cursing his wit for failing him now, of all times. “I need to go.”

“It’s Thursday; you don’t have any classes on Thursdays.” She kept her face neutral, and Tobias was reminded of how much he had liked her before the whole “incident” with her boyfriend happened. Rosa had a natural resting bitch face and a personality to match. He also was reminded of how annoying it was to try to avoid someone who had hung around you often enough to know your schedule. 

“I started a new job.” The urge to smile like a fucking fool rose up in him, just like it did every time he lied. He bit his lip to try and keep the tell down, with only moderate success.

Rosa tightened her grip on his arm, her black nails starting to dig into his skin. “Don’t lie to me, Tob. You wouldn’t be carrying all those books around if you had to go to a job.” Tobias started to respond, only to be cut off. “Plus, most jobs around here wouldn’t let someone with that much metal in their face work there.” Who the fuck was she, Sherlock Holmes?

“Hey,” Tobias protested, “Not every place is so weird about piercings. It ain’t the forties.” Plus, he didn’t have that many; just two in his left eyebrow, one on his tongue, one on the bridge of his nos- fuck, maybe he did have that many.

The smirk on Rosa’s lips told Tobias that he had lost this fight. “Fine, what is it?” he asked.

Her smile faded again, and her grey eyes - oh, hey, no contacts today - grew serious. “You know what it is, Tobs.”

Tobias clicked his tongue. This was the exact conversation he didn’t want to have, not today, not tomorrow, possibly not ever. “It’s nothing,” he muttered. The seriousness of the topic quashed the urge to smile that would normally have rushed up his muscles at such a blatant lie. “Your boyfriend and I had a falling-out is all.”

“He ain’t my boyfriend anymore, hun.” Rosa loosened her grip slightly, allowing Tobias to free his arm. Woman had a grip like a fucking vise.

“Oh, uh, sorry,” Tobias said, not really feeling it. It wasn’t really a loss on her part, if he was honest.

“Nah, don’t be. I may not know the details of what shit he pulled, but it was the straw that broke the camel’s back, or whatever.” She gave a shrug as if it had all been a matter of time. It probably had been; Rosa didn’t suffer fools. “He wanted me to put my life aside and give him a rent-free place to crash, and I ain’t made a’ money. Besides, I don’t think I wanna be with a guy who managed to piss off you.”

Tobias let out an awkward chuckle that faded out into the crisp autumn air. He fidgeted with his earstuds, the weird tugging feeling distracting him from the conversation. Even if Rosa was nice, anything that reminded him of his ex-roommate made his skin blister with unresolved rage. He felt like some sort of angsty teenager.

“Well, anyway, I gotta go to class,” Rosa said, her eyes drifting off into the distance. Tobias was pretty sure that her last class on Thursdays would start for at least an hour, and silently thanked her for knowing when to end the terse exchange of words that they were both pretending was a conversation. Rosa turned on her heel, and called out a goodbye from over her shoulder.

What Tobias wouldn’t give to just make everyone -himself included- forget the last two weeks. With that thought, he started his trek back to the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tobias is a very angry dude. There are many reasons for this. Also, this marks the first real mention of the Incident and The Roommate. Don't worry, this story will not include sexual assault.


	6. In which we hate Freud

Fucking Freud.

Tobias wanted to throw the textbook against the wall. The assigned reading for his developmental psychology class was, unfortunately, in its Freud section. Tobias couldn’t go two sentences without coming across something weirdly sexual, and extremely wrong. Why did anyone take the guy seriously; he did fucking coke! You can’t take someone who did coke seriously.

With an exhausted sigh, Tobias let the textbook slide out of his lap; it hit the hardwood floor of his room with a loud thud. He needed a break, and maybe a stiff drink.

The door to his room creaked open, and Tobias spun his desk chair around to face his visitor.

“Yo.” Tobias nodded at Asmodeus in what had become their traditional greeting. Asmodeus responded with a slight bow as he walked into Tobias’ room, closing the door behind him. His eyes were calm today, though Tobias refused to take his eyes off the demon lest he become an unwitting victim to some unexpected mood change. “What’s up?”

Asmodeus shrugged as he sat on the hardwood floor. From this angle, Tobias couldn’t see Asmodeus’ eyes anymore; without that visual cue, the demon was nigh unreadable, the rest of his body giving nothing away. There would be no reason for Tobias to get on the floor, though, so he just had to suck it up for now. He doubted Asmodeus would stay long; he never did. He would just come in for a few minutes occasionally, watching Tobias study with rapt attention. Sometimes, Tobias would read the text out loud, finding the sound of his own voice a great antidote to the awkward silence that came with Asmodeus’ visits. There was always the fear that Asmodeus would try to force the issue of the contract; the demon still brought it up, like it was a passing thought that he had been compelled to voice, and each time he did fear spiked through Tobias’ spine. Tobias was not a religious man, but he had heard the stories often enough as a child to still feel the twinge of horror at the idea of Hell.

“You were upset when you came home yesterday.” Asmodeus leaned his head against Tobias’ thigh, the low rumble of his voice being telegraphed through Tobias’ body by the contact. “Since Celia is not home, I thought I would be the one to comfort you.”

Asmodeus’ honesty was, as always, somewhat startling. Tobias had read in one of the books he had borrowed that Asmodeus couldn’t lie while summoned; it had explained a lot about the oddly charming bluntness with which the demon spoke.

“I’m fine.” Why did the demon think he’d be upset over something that had occured the previous day? Humans weren’t that fragile, dammit.

Tobias felt Asmodeus’ hair brush against his hands as the demon shook his head slowly.

“Seriously, I’m fine. ‘M just tired.”

Another slow head shake. “I told you, I have learned much about humans in my line of work.” Asmodeus shifted so that his chin was resting on Tobias’ thigh, his eyes glinting as they peered through his bangs. “You are not ‘fine.’”

“Asmodeus.” The warning tone had slipped into Tobias’ voice without his permission, but it served its purpose as Asmodeus leaned back, breaking the contact with a slight frown of... Disappointment? Annoyance? Resignation? It was impossible to tell.

An awkward half-smile graced Asmodeus’ lips, revealing his sharp, straight teeth. “I beg your forgiveness for my trespass. ’Tis hard to know the proper distance to keep with such beings.”

Tobias’ eyebrows knit together, and he leaned forward on the chair, elbows on his knees. “Haven’t you been around for thousands of years?”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t you understand boundaries by now, then?”

Asmodeus looked away. His grin faltered, turning into more of a grimace than anything else. “How would I learn this when I rarely spent more than a fortnight in this world?” It seemed like admitting this was almost physically painful. Maybe it was. Fuck if Tobias knew how demons worked.

“Will you be going back soon, then?” Tobias felt a bit annoyed at that; he’d just gotten used to the big oaf.

Asmodeus shook his head, his smile returning as the conversation steered toward clearer waters once more. “Nay, for I cannot return until my contract is done.”

Tobias walked right into that one. “You’re gonna be here for a while then, bud.”

There was a low chuckle, and then Asmodeus’ head was resting on Tobias’ thigh again, the demon looking up at him through his bangs. “You say that as if you expect this to vex me.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Hell runs quite smoothly without my presence. In truth, I do little more than go to meetings that make me wish for a bath in holy water. Suits the other princes quite well, but I am not a man easily confined.” Asmodeus let out a small humming noise and rested his cheek on Tobias’ thigh, closing his eyes. The man was like a giant dog. “One day, I simply felt as if I needed to be somewhere, anywhere else.”

“I’ve been there, man.” Tobias leaned back against the chair, staring at the ceiling.

Taking that as a sign to continue, Asmodeus proceeded with his story. There was probably a payoff at the end, some sort of grand revelation. This was the kind of mood for that, right? Alone in a house together, in close contact, with the air conditioner quietly humming out a rhythm in the background: the perfect time for character development. It was almost like a cheesy novel. “I put myself in the summoning queue, and you called upon me. I was certain that I would only remain here a few hours, but I was desperate for any sort of respite. But then, you happened. ’Twas a miracle to me, something that put many prophets to shame. Your very existence was a blessing.”

Make that a cheesy romance novel. God, Tobias was starting to understand the whole ‘Prince of Lust’ thing; this guy knew how to turn the charm up to eleven. He’d said that with such pure adoration in his voice. “You’re… You’re welcome?” Hell, he wasn’t even sure what he really did besides accidentally summon him and then refuse to let him do his job, but apparently that was enough to make Asmodeus happy. Tobias was so glad he was looking up at the ceiling, because he would not be able to live down Asmodeus seeing him blush from something so mundane. He could almost picture the shit-eating grin that would bloom across Asmodeus’ face like a drop of ink in a glass of water. Celia often made the same one whenever Tobias got flustered by people flirting with him.

“Tobias, you gave me an excuse to be free. ’Tis a rare thing, even more so for a demon of my degree, but you did not even flinch at the prospect of refusing me. No human has ever done such a thing before.”

“I doubt most humans summon you accidentally, either.” Was Asmodeus just a praise-spouting machine? The man needed to calm down before Tobias spontaniously combusted.

Asmodeus made a small ‘hmm’ sound. “I suppose you may be correct on that front. Still, most people would simply give in to a demon, simply out of fear. Even Celia was somewhat nervous when she first laid eyes upon me.” This was true; even though Tobias had texted her to give her the rundown on what had happened (or, more accurately, how he had fucked up), Celia had still trembled upon seeing Asmodeus for the first time. She only calmed down when she saw Tobias, her rage giving her the strength to push forward, fear or no fear. “I must profess myself to be curious to discover how you came upon such courage, especially at such a tender age.”

The unspoken question caused Tobias to tense out of reflex. God damn demon, always figuring out how to get the conversation back to what he didn’t want to talk about. Tobias was just about to snap at Asmodeus about it being nothing important when he heard the front door open.

“Oi, I’m home; where’s the parade?” Celia called, her heels clacking on the hardwood floor. Tobias was going to need to hug her later.

He slid his legs out from underneath Asmodeus’ head and went to greet his friend, immediately deciding that tonight’s dinner was going to be Celia’s choice.

Maybe he’d figure out a way to answer Asmodeus’ probing questions while he was cooking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I hate Freud with the kind of passion that could cook a roast in three seconds flat. Anyway, this is all I've written for now; do you want more? Do you want me to shut up? Let me know!


End file.
